EE Attracts 201,000 New Customers In Q4 But Posts £191m Yearly Loss

EE attracted 201,000 new customers during the fourth quarter of 2012, during which it launched the UK’s first 4G network.

A total of 752,000 new postpaid customers were added to its user base in 2012, but this was not enough to prevent the operator from posting a net £191 million loss during 2012, compared with a £104 million shortfall in 2011.

EE says that 52 percent of its customers were now on lucrative postpaid contracts, which typically deliver five times as much average revenue per user (ARPU) as prepaid tariffs. Smartphone adoption is now as high as 78 percent, a nine percent increase over last year, with 94 percent of new customers choosing such devices.

EE 4G adoption

“In the past year, we delivered solid financial performance, underpinned by good progress integrating the business and success in attracting high value customers,” said Olaf Swantee, CEO of EE. “At the same time, we built a strong platform for growth, launching a new company, new network, new customer brand, new retail estate and being the first to provide UK consumers and businesses with 4G mobile services alongside fibre broadband.”

The operator says that it will continue to invest in its 4G network during 2013 as part of a growth strategy of increasing smartphone penetration and increasing data revenues.

EE 4G was launched last October after the company was granted permission by Ofcom to launch an LTE service using its existing spectrum, ahead of the ongoing auction of 4G spectrum. EE said that it would continue to improve coverage, adding that T-Mobile and Orange customers were switching to EE 4G in areas covered by the new service.

The network will reach 65 towns and cities by June 2013, with EE reporting that it was seeing early 4G momentum from business customers in a number of sectors. It claims that more than ten percent of its corporate clients were trialling or using 4G, including Gatwick Airport, Microsoft, Morrisons and Sony Music, while on in four of its new SME customers were choosing 4G services.

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Steve McCaskill is editor of TechWeekEurope and ChannelBiz. He joined
as a reporter in 2011 and covers all areas of IT, with a particular interest in telecommunications, mobile and networking, along with sports technology.